Chapter 15 - THE LOWEST POINT
Gabriel Bennett lived in Vermont.
At least that was what public records claimed.
Elena called the number listed for his medical practice.
Disconnected.
She searched licensing databases.
Gabriel had retired six years earlier.
Julian found an address.
They planned to leave at sunrise.
They never got the chance.
At 4:13 a.m., federal agents arrested Richard Harrington.
The charges involved financial conspiracy.
Obstruction.
Tax fraud.
And money laundering.
Victoria stood in the foyer as her husband was taken away.
For once, she didn’t look pleased.
“This is Thomas.”
Julian turned on her.
“You expect me to believe you now?”
“He’s forcing everyone into the open.”
Richard looked at Elena before officers placed him in the vehicle.
“Find Gabriel.”
“Why?”
Richard hesitated.
“Because Isabel trusted him.”
Then he was gone.
Julian stood on the front steps watching the SUVs disappear.
His family company’s stock began collapsing before sunrise.
News outlets surrounded the estate.
Headlines named Julian as a possible beneficiary of the Mercer Crown accounts.
Board members demanded his suspension.
By eight o’clock, Julian had lost operational control of Harrington Holdings.
By nine, prosecutors froze several of his accounts.
By ten, the story of Elena’s framed theft had leaked.
Online strangers accused her of seducing the family.
Blackmailing them.
Inventing evidence.
Elena sat alone in the kitchen reading comments until Julian took her phone away.
“Stop.”
“They think I did this.”
“They don’t know you.”
“The board thinks you did it.”
“They don’t know me either.”
He sat across from her.
“For twenty-eight years, my mother and uncle built lies.”
“We won’t undo them in one morning.”
Elena looked exhausted.
“I came here for answers.”
“And instead?”
“I destroyed your family.”
Julian shook his head.
“My family did that themselves.”
A knock came from the back entrance.
Security brought in a courier envelope.
No return address.
Inside was another photograph.
Gabriel Bennett.
He was tied to a chair.
A newspaper dated that morning rested against his chest.
Elena’s stomach dropped.
A message was written beneath it.
BRING THE REAL KEY.
NO POLICE.
MIDNIGHT TOMORROW.
Julian looked at her.
“Thomas knows you tricked him.”
Elena nodded.
Then she noticed something in Gabriel’s photograph.
His right hand was visible.
His fingers rested against the chair.
Three fingers extended.
Two curled.
Then three extended again.
A pattern.
Elena enlarged the image.
“Julian.”
“What?”
“He’s signaling something.”
Julian stared.
Elena suddenly remembered her mother teaching her a childhood number game.
Three.
Two.
Three.
Elena ran upstairs.
She found Samuel’s old ledger copy.
Page 323 did not exist.
But Isabel’s letters did.
She counted.
The thirty-second letter.
Third paragraph.
She read the first sentence.
Then she understood.
Her mother had anticipated this.
Isabel had written:
May you like
IF THOMAS EVER COMES FOR THE KEY, DO NOT OPEN THE VAULT HE WANTS.
OPEN THE ONE BENEATH SAMUEL’S GRAVE.
